Game Description: Suda51's new game is a psychological action thriller where you play as Garcia, a man hell-bent (literally) on traveling to Hell to rescue his true love Paula. He's challenged by a number of grotesque demons. Thankfully, Garcia happens to be a "hard-as-nails, leather-clad, motorcycle-riding professional demon hunter."

Shadows of the Damned Review

Shadows of the Damned is an endlessly creative action game. Charming, gorgeous, and a combat system as slick as its lead's purple designer leather jacket make this one of the most polished and imaginative shooters in recent years.

The Pros

Visually arresting

Excellent combat and controls

Amazing soundtrack

Doesn't take itself too seriously

The Cons

Can't pause or skip cutscenes

Could use more enemy variety

Shadows of the Damned Review:

Say what you will about visionary game creator Suda 51, the guy's got moxie. Placing his name on the cover of his most recent game Shadows of the Damned is one thing, but calling it "a Suda 51 trip" is another. It's the right word, given its otherworldly nature. His previous efforts, No More Heroes and Killer 7, were never less than interesting with cel-shaded pop-art aesthetics, surreal atmosphere, twisted humor, and gleeful gore. Unfortunately they weren't always fun, with awkward controls and plodding repetition. Legendary game designer Shinji Mikami (of Resident Evil 4 fame and more recently Vanquish) collaborated with Suda and co. this time around, and his mark is readily apparent. This is a finely crafted title fitting of Mikami's repertoire, while sacrificing none of Suda's madcap sensibilities.

Life in Hell

The game kicks off with demon hunter Garcia Hotspur's girlfriend Paula being kidnapped by Fleming, the lord of demons. Dead set on getting her back, Garcia and his flaming skull buddy Johnson embark on their crusade through the underworld.

At its most basic level, Shadows of the Damned plays like a traditional third-person shooter ala Dead Space, but some subtle tweaks give it a distinct feel. For starters, light and dark play a big role in combat and puzzles. When consumed by a veil of darkness, the world takes on a blue hue and Garcia gradually loses health. In this mode enemies are invincible so you must ignite lamps to vaporize the darkness by shooting them with "light shots", a secondary type of ammo you have an infinite supply of. Light shots can also be used to stun enemies and eventually you gain the ability to charge them until they turn into sticky bombs. Attaching these to enemies before detonating them with a well placed shot never gets old.

Garcia only has four weapons: a pistol, machine gun, shotgun, and a torch for melee (actually, they're all the same weapon and not really a weapon at all, but rather the shape-shifting Johnson). Having only a handful of weapons may sound limiting, but they frequently gain new properties like charge attacks, lock-ons, and the aforementioned sticky bombs. You can also upgrade your weapon's damage, reload speed, ammo capacity, blast radius, and firing speed along with extending your health meter. Mixing up your core arsenal with light shots, a powerful melee weapon, and context sensitive finishing moves ensures there are multiple ways to skin a demon.

The Illustrated Man

The exquisite combat is only half of the equation, as the game is bursting with personality. Garcia may be a misogynistic creep, but he's wildly entertaining as he makes bad puns, laughs at his own jokes, and in one hilarious turn, reads a storybook where he seems to be channeling Strong Bad. It's raunchy, offensive, and juvenile, but knowingly so.

In many ways Garcia fulfills the void left byDuke Nukem. Where Mr. Nukem parodied the musclebound action heroes of the 80s and early 90s, Garcia is a riff off the modern Hollywood heartthrob; ultra chic, obsessively romantic, and wearing nothing but leather and ink, he's the quintessential bad boy lover. Nevermind that he's ultimately a shallow, immature stooge. Garcia's offbeat brand of scatological humor and sexism won't be for everyone, but I don't believe we're supposed to look up to him and his jokes are often funnier for being stupid than clever.

Garcia's not the brightest bulb, but his bold persona and foolhardy bravado fit in nicely with the hyper-stylized Eastern European punk rock vision of hell. From its cobblestone streets, to its murky swamps (complete with a recreation of the cabin from The Evil Dead), to its seedy red light districts, every inch is brimming with detail. Corpses are positioned to form a cannibalistic supper, statues portray men with heads of horses and frogs, and neon signs for sex clubs advertise "blood wrestling."

Bristling with imagination, this is a world with its own internal logic. Goat's heads emit light when shot, demon doors require being fed brains, eyes, and strawberries, and checkpoints are instigated by a bat-like creature pooping. There's even 2D levels designed to look like they were made out of paper like a storybook. These wonderful visuals are complimented by a stellar soundtrack by Silent Hill composer, Akira Yamaoka. This is one of the few games where I'd progress slowly simply because I wanted to examine every detail of the environment.

Drag Me to Hell

While a majority of Shadows of the Damned is exceptional, there are a few blemishes on this otherwise splendid romp. One bewildering flaw is the inability to pause or skip cutscenes. Being able to do this became the norm half a decade ago, so it's especially disheartening to see now in 2011. Aiming can be sluggish and hit detection with the shotgun is spotty, though adjusting the sensitivity helps. There's also a mini-game where you defend a stationary position from oncoming demons that's uncharacteristically difficult and goes on too long. Elsewhere, load times are lengthy and there isn't a whole lot of enemy variety, though this is mostly made up for with some spectacular boss battles.

Damned if You Don't

Shadows of the Damned is one of the few games that maintains the refinement of a triple AAA title with the cocksure appeal of an indie. In an industry full of bleak shooters it's refreshing to see one that doesn't take itself seriously and you get the distinct impression that Grasshopper Manufacture had fun making it. Its striking visual style, brilliant soundtrack, and goofy humor give it loads of roguish charm, while its refined third-person shooting ensures that it's as fun to play as it is to look at.

Editor's Note: Some G4tv.com staff members had issues with the controls, mostly around the slow turning speed and aiming difficulties with the lead playable character, Garica. Our reviewer and other G4tv.com staff members did not encounter these problems, but we felt they were common enough among those who played it to warrant a mention here without letting it affect the review itself.

Comments are Closed

I don't think any of the cutscenes went on so long that you'd want to skip through having already seen them. The only time I can somewhat understand this as a minor inconvenience was during the aforementioned stationary standoff against the giant demons, as dying would send you back to viewing the previous cutscene. Even in that instance, it's so short that it's hardly something I'd hold against the game. I do agree with the criticism of that particular segment going on a bit too long, but it's forgivable.

This is really a fantastic game with a lot going for it. If you're a fan of campy horror movies, this a total treat for you (there's even a fun Evil Dead reference midway through the game). Little things like the storybooks and nuances of the "Demon World" are icing on the cake.

SotD is proof that when you devote your time to making a rich single player experience, it pays off. I can only imagine what damage adding a multiplayer mode would've done, as it's happened too much with recent games.

suda 51 is the Quentin Tarrentino of video games. i love all his games and found this 1 in the bargain bin 4 only 20 bucks so i had 2 try it. this is 1 hell of a ride and i strongly advise any1 to play this game and enjoy .

Yeah, this game is pretty badass. I went ahead and picked it up because of all the positive buzz and it really is excellent and refreshing. If you don't mind the adult humor (which is actually mostly funny) and the Resident Evil control set, it is definitely worth the 60 bones.

This game... I just don't know what to think of it. I never heard any news of it coming out and my first impression of it is DMC combined with RE4. Which to some may sound like an awesome idea. I just don't know. The dialogue seems a little corny, but the game doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. I guess I'll have to check it out it if it really is a 4/5

Shadows of the Damned sounds great! Atlhough, I love how people are STILL complaining about the Reisdent Evil 4 style control scheme. Really? I was NEVER bothered by the lack of being able to move, and that was everyone's first issue. Now it's remedied, and critics are still finding ways to complain? Jeez. Maybe it's just that the controls suck with the PS3/360 controllers. Go RE4 Wii, flawless controls ftw!

So Duke Nukem Forever has a misogynistic and vulgar sense of humor, and is broadly crapped on for it by your reviewer as being offensive, pointless, and terrible.

Shadows of the Damned comes out and your reviewer lauds its misogynistic and vulgar sense of humor, saying that it makes the character likable.

How about some consistency here? Maybe get the same reviewer to at least tack on a comment paragraph? See, if you didn't give the games ratings, it wouldn't matter so much that a different reviewer has a different sense of what is "funny and appropriate." But when you profess to give blanket comparative ratings as a unified entity (DNF 1/5, SotD 4/5), you should really look into having some kind of consistency.

I just finished the game last night and I loved it. I really enjoyed this game more than what I originally thought I would. I didn't have any of these "control issues" everyone else keeps talking about. I think the only minor flaw this game had is that after you played through the first time you couldn't keep your upgraded weapons for another play through. All in all this is definitely my favorite game out this year so far

Suda 51 does it again! I'm also very happy that this got a good review. I've enjoyed all of Suda's quirky games so far and I knew he wouldn't disappoint! (unlike the MAJOR disappointment of DNF *sigh*)

However I did notice that there was an "Editor's Note" added to this review after Sessler whined about the Resident-Evil-style controls in his Attack of the Show review of the game (which btw sounded VERY different from how this review reads). Seriously Adam, I know it's not the smoothest of control schemes, but are you really that uncoordinated that you haven't figured it out by now? Not every game has to play like Gears of War, and the control scheme for this game didn't deserve to be noted as an "issue" or "problem".

how hard would it be to create a multi-platform section on this website?! after reading through the entire review I had to scroll all the way up to the top to check if this was xbox exclusive or not. It might be a small thing, but if its such a small thing then WHY can't g4 do it (make a multi-platform section)? QUIT PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS G4, I dont want to have to go through this kind of stuff. When good games come out only to realize months later that a game was actually on the PS3 I find it a little perturbing to say the least. Btw this is a great game, but if you're one of G4's readers you have to pay extreme attention to not miss that tiny blue PS3 symbol at the top.

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